The asteroid, named 418135 (2008 AG33), has an estimated diameter between 350 and 780 meters, NASA’s Center for Near-Object Studies (CNEOS) has revealed. NASA defines any space object at a distance of 193 million kilometers from Earth as an “object close to Earth” (NEO) and any rapidly moving object within 7.5 million kilometers as “potentially dangerous”. According to the Center, as they orbit the Sun, NEOs can occasionally get close to Earth. However, he explained that a “short” passage astronomically can be very far from a human point of view: millions or even tens of millions of kilometers. Thus, the asteroid 418135 is expected to pass through our planet without the risk of collision, Live Science reported. At its closest point, the asteroid, traveling at more than 30 times the speed of sound, will reach a distance of about 3.2 million kilometers from Earth, which is about eight times the average distance between Earth and the Moon. Asteroid 418135 was first discovered on January 12, 2008, by asteroid inspectors at the Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter in Arizona and last crossed the Earth on March 1, 2015, according to CNEOS. The asteroid oscillates from our planet about every seven years, with the next short flight scheduled for May 25, 2029. But it may not be the largest space rock to pass through Earth. Another asteroid, named 467460 (2006 JF42), is considered to be the largest ever to pass through Earth, the report said. The space rock has an estimated diameter between 380 and 860 meters and will travel at about 40,700 km / h when passing through Earth on May 9. Several space services are already working on ways to possibly divert asteroids flying directly to Earth. Last November, NASA launched a spacecraft as part of a dual asteroid test mission, which it plans to redirect a non-dangerous asteroid by hitting it off course. China is also in the early stages of planning an asteroid redirection mission. Hitting 23 Long March 5 rockets on the asteroid Bennu, the country says it will be able to deflect the space rock from a potentially catastrophic impact with Earth, the report said. 20220428-123803